SAHM struggles

What worked for me was going to a gym with child care. Do you have an option like that? You can also go to the park and exercise at the playground while the little one plays, get a bike/bike trailer and go for rides, or go hiking. I know it isn't always easy staying at home with the children but it is worth it. Good luck!

Yes I could lose a 1lb a day in my 20,s and even if I had little to lose! My tactics this time was to have to clean my diet to generally vegan and mostly raw ! If I exercised this much on a deficit in my youth I would have been a size zero!

First off stay away from kid food. You know the goldfish crackers, cereal, the leftover mac n cheese. Feed yourself like an adult.

Second. Get you and your 4yo outside playing. play duck duck goose and run and run and run around a circle lots of times before s/he gets to catch you. Do a circuit while s/he plays in the dirt, or with chalk. Get to the park and play hide and seek.

I have 2 boys, and was home for about 7 years, just last year, I started substitute teaching. I started MFP about a year and a half ago, and am almost at my goal weight.

During the summer, I sometimes work out in our basement, we bought a used Treadclimber, stationary bike, and a TV/DVD player. My friends and I swap DVDs from time to time, or you can borrow from your library, too. My boys sleep a little later in the summer, and like to ease into the day so I either work out at night after they go to bed or in the morning while they watch TV. I've also grabbed my HRM and jogged in place for a half hour.

We picked up a tagalong bike for our almost 4 year old from Craigslist, it attaches to your bike, your little one can pedal or not. My boys also like to play Just Dance on our Wii with me, it's fun and can burn quite a few calories. They like to go for walks after dinner as a family. I've borrowed my older son's scooter and chased my younger son around, too.

Hope that helps!

I hear you. I'm at home with two toddlers and no car while hubby works and goes to school. We don't have the money for a gym or childcare. I am just trying to really get back into it. Been doing it half heartedly the last couple of months with personal issues. I find that it's easiest for me to exercse once they go to bed for the night. It's too difficult for me otherwise.
We do have a park close by, and the kids love to have me chase them pretending to be a monster. Gives me a little extra exercise and they have a blast.

I hate when the munchies hit! I recently have really started enjoying having an afternoon/evening tea. Great for when those munchies hit and you know you don't need to eat. Have a wonderful vanilla red rooibos that has good flavor and a light sweetness with no calories. I was doing too much coffee for a while, so taking a step back from the caffeine.

Are you doing any weight training? That extra muscle helps boost metabolism. Forty minutes a day of cardio sounds like a lot to me. But then again, I'm just a 20-something so what do I know!

It definitely is a challenge just to lose weight, let alone doing it with a kid! Good luck to you!

Get out walking!!!
I'm a SAHM. My oldest is 7 and in school and I have a 19 month old. We have been taking daily walks. Every morning we get out for a minimum of an hour or two and walk.
If she's too big for a stroller, get a wagon. The added resistance of pulling the extra weight will be a great workout!
We walked for 10 kilometers today already.
In the evening when the kids are in bed I hit the stationary bike in the basement for a bit.

I know I'll catch hell from the SAHM group for this, however, none of these suggestions are things I've been unable to accomplish during the times when I am at home with my two girls (ages 2 and 3) when they are on school holiday. I'm also not one to sugar coat things so let's be real:

1. Stop feeding your kids crap. They eat it because you provide it. My kids eat healthy most of the time, but when we do give them unhealthy food choices and we happen to have a bit or two we don't make excuses like it is something that we didn't make happen based on our own choices.
2. Working out - just get moving. Go play in the yard. Find a used jogging stroller. Go to they playground and do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups while you are watching them play. Get your spouse to watch the kids for an hour while you go work out. Do a workout DVD while they are napping or after they go to sleep at night. There are options you just have to make it work.

From now on, rather than saying "I don't have time for X" I want you to use the phrase "I have chosen not to prioritize X". Too many people around here like making excuses for themselves (or making excuses for others) when the reality is that you don't want it bad enough to do what has to be done. You like your time, convenience, comfort, good tasting foods more than you want to be thin and fit. In order to make a change you have to find the will power. There is no magic bullet (or pill or exercise) for that.

I agree! I am a SHAM of 2 boys as well as taking online courses I help keep my husbands plumbing business organized. These are all important but it is only me that can make my health important to me. People are hard wired to find a way to make important things happen. Just choose what is important!

Im a SAHM to a 2 and 3 year old. If i can do it, anyone can We go to the park and run around or just go in our yard and play. Sometimes i dont even play, it just gets me out and not eating. And when i do snack during that mid day downtime, i snack on fruit. No excuses, just do it. Good luck!!

I don't stay at home with my daughter, but I have found it hard to squeeze in exercise time. My husband works long hours, so the only feasible times I could work out is after she goes to bed (around 8:30, and I don't really want to start exercising then since I try and get to bed by 9:30 or 10, or get up at 4:30 am and do it (I already get up at 5 as it is). Neither of those are very appealing to me. I could see about joining a gym with a daycare, or even leave her at her regular daycare an extra hour (they close at 6, I get there around 4:30-5 every day) and work out then, but spending time with my daughter and minimizing her hours in daycare is always going to be a higher priority to me than working out.

So, I get creative. I take her for walks, I do squats, push ups, jumping jacks, lunges, etc right in the middle of the yard, or the living room. She thinks it's hilarious. Sometimes she copies me and does squats herself. Plus, I am regularly carting 30 pounds of of my child and her crap around, which gives me a bonus workout. On the rare occasion my husband gets home at a decent hour, I'll leave her with him and go for a bike ride. I love to ride my bike. It's the only cardio I enjoy. If I can't ride my bike, I pretty much skip cardio.

The food is a problem. It helps that I am away from home for 11 hours a day, and bring my lunch every day, but when we're home, I do find myself snagging handfuls of goldfish crackers and cheerios. Cereal is my downfall. I don't eat it myself anymore, but if she doesn't eat hers, I'll usually finish it. Husband has taken to throwing it out really quickly when removing her from the table so he doesn't have to hear me whine all day about how I ate cereal. I think you can either not stock your house with junk food, (or at least not items that you like), or just try and eat healthy 90% of the time and realize that one handful of goldfish crackers won't derail you.

Is your kid a good eater? Mine is pretty picky, but she loves most fruits and vegetables. That is usually what we snack on. I usually try and make a snack plate for her, with foods that have a variety of colors and textures.